MP3 or Ipod

shazrazmataz

Ok guys, bear with me here, as most of you know I'm completely thick when it comes to anything technical

My daughter wants an MP3 thingy for Christmas, so can anyone tell me which is the best one to get, she's almost 15, so we dont mind paying a little bit more for one.

Any recomendations or tips & views on which one to get would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED

Thanks in advance.

Mr_Skint_2

I would get a MP3 player it has less restrictions than an Ipod.

(file types I mean.)

ktuludays

I agree with Mr Skint. The iPod is too restrictive. It is a cool player rather than a functional one.

Saying that though I do own a 4th Gen 20gb iPod and am more than happy with it but if I were to get a new MP3 player it wouldn't be another iPod.

There are far better players out there for the same or less money that offer far more. Some even come with radios.

The creative Zen and Sony NW-HD5 are both very good players.

look here at the sony one, available in silver and black:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000934N2E/qid=1128860588/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-0163759-3915073

My brother has one and it is better than the iPod.

The main problem with the iPod is the battery issue. It loses it's charge after a year or so and is fairly costly to replace. Other players batteries can be replaced very easily. You could say that they learnt from Apples "mistakes".

Good luck!

Stripeylad

Techincally you can't beat the iriver product

Iriver H10 20GB Color

Supports more music formats that an ipod. Still looks good (in my opinion). Nothing at all wrong with an ipod but for the money you would pay for one of those your money could be better spent on an iriver product (The H10 20GB version i have linked to is for example only - they do different designs and have different storage amounts available).

If you have any further questions then feel free to drop me an e-mail or post in the thread and i'll try and remember to keep glancing back.

sra

There's a page of Microsoft advice here. And here's an interpretation of what it really means! :rotfl:

beautifulgorgeous_2

Mine wants an ipod for the name and cos her mates have got one. Bit like £4 jeans at tesco, I suppose, not got the "right" name

shazrazmataz

sra wrote:

There's a page of Microsoft advice here. And here's an interpretation of what it really means! :rotfl:

Great site, just what us thickos are looking for, thanks sra :T

wolfman

The iPod, despite being a fashion symbol, is also very ergonomical and easy to use. Its touch wheel and menu system work very well, along with it's size and looks. It's difficult to go wrong with an iPod.

What caused me to sell my 4th Gen Photo, was the limited battery life of around 8 hours. You'll find this to be the same with a lot of hard drive players though.

With regards to restrictions, iPod's aren't that restrictive if you read around. I used mine as an external drive for taking work home, and put tracks on/off without using iTunes (which I can't stand). I even had Linux installed on it with dual boot. The main restriction are the media types it can play (ie basically only mp3). This wasn't an issue for me though as I find mp3 to be the best format for me (don't like Windows Media files).

The iPod Nano would be a good player to get, although it does notoriously suffer from scratching. For me, it's definitely going in the right direction in terms of it's size, and the fact there are no moving parts.